Eoul einar egenfeldt-olsen



Dec. 29, 1931. P E. EGENFELDT-OLSEN 1,838,863

DEVICE FOR CLEANSING THE AIR Filed July 24, 1929 Patented Dec. 29, 1931 RO'UL EINAR EGENFELDT-OLSEN, F COPENHAGEN, DENMARK DEVICE FOR QLEANSING THE AIR Application filed 311137 24, 1929. Serial No. 380,715.

My invention relates to a device for cleansing the air in an air current, e. g. the suction air of an internal combustion engine, from dust and other mechanical impurities. The

air cleaner according to my invention is of that kind which consists of a casing filled partly with oil or the like and provided with inlet and outlet openings for the air, in which casing is rotatably mounted a body intended for the cleaning of the air and rotated by the air current to be cleaned itself. The cleaning efiect is obtained thereby that on its way through the device the air impinges on sticky surfaces retaining the particles suspended in the air, the latter being at the same time subjected to a changing of direction. The invention is chiefly characterized in that the said rotatable body is mainly disc-shaped or annular and so arranged that the flowing air meets a surface on the body in the shape of an endless band in such direction that it makes the body rotate and is thrown back itself and deflected, whereby the impurities are delivered owing to their inertia to the said surface and held thereby because of its being constantly kept moist by its passing through the liquid in the bottom portion of the casing, The present device cleans the air efiiciently and is at the same time easy to manufacture owing to its simple construction, because it requires no special wings or the like for the rotation of the rotatable body. It may be compared with, and aims' Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a constructional form of the air cleaner according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a section along line II-II-in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a section on line III-III in Fig. 2. a

Y 1 is the casing of the air cleaner, 2 the air inlet openings, which are arranged in a circle along the upper portion of the edge of the side wall of the casing shown in Fig. 1. The air inlet openings are inclined so that the entrance direction of the air forms an angle with the axis of rotation of the rotatable body 3 placed in the casing. The openings may preferably be formed bybending I the material of the sidewall of the casing 3 outwardly. 4 is a filling place and 5 an emptying place for oil or the like normally filling the bottom of the casing to a certain level as shown in'Figs. 2 and 3. The rotatable body 3 is mounted with a pivot or shaft 5 6 in bearings 7, 8 in the side walls of the casing 1. It has mainly the shape of a flat disc, the outer annular part 9of which forms the surface taking up the impurities, while its central part 10 has apertures 11 allowing the cleaned air to pass from the inlet side of the casing to the outlet side, the inlet openings 2 being'opposite to the said annular surface ,9, while the outlet opening or openings 12 are on the other side of the casing. In the constructional form represented in the drawings the rotatable body 3 consists of two circular plates, the outer annular parts of which are pressed out or bent so as to form between them an annular space 13 open outso wardly by a narrow slit 14 between the outer edges of the plates, while inwardly it is closed at the central parts 10 of the plates. This annular space contains wings or vanes 15 or the like extending from the inner bounding surface of the annular space almost to the outer edges of the two circular plates forming the body 3. The device acts as follows: It is supposed that it is employed'e. g. for cleaning the suction air of, an internal combustion engine and that the openingwl2 communicates with the section pipe of the engine- An air current is then sucked-,in through the openings 2 in direc tions forming such angles with the axis of 93 rotation of the body 3 that by impinging the annular .surface 9 the air is deflected: or thrown back and simultaneously it rotates the body 3. Hereby the surface 9 is kept continually moist owing to its motion m0 through the oil in the bottom of the casing, and the impurities contained in the air are caught by the liquid film on the surface 9, when the air current meets it. The impurities thus caught sink to the bottom of the oil in the bottom portion of the casing as soon as the surface 9 enters the oil because the surface tension in the oil film on the surface 9 then disappears, whereafter there will be, no force retaining the particles on the surface 9. The air thereafter passes towards the central part of the casing and through the apertures 11 to the other side of the body 3 and out through the,opening 12 as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2. The direction of rotation of the body 3 is indicated by the arrow p in Fig. 8. It is to be remarked that the outer edge of the body 3 bears against the inner edge of the casing 1 with a minimum of play along all that part of the casing that is not filled with oil. The oil ma be emptied, when necessary, and new oi be filled in at the emptying place 5 and refilling place 4 respectively. The special shape of the body 3 with the annular space 13 and plates 15 serves as a brake preventing the body from rotating too fast. This brake acts in that manner that owing to the presence of the plates 15 the body 3 lifts continually some oil during its rotation, which oil runs down successively along the plates 15 and through the space between them and the outer edge of the body 3. By adjusting this space the brake action may be adjusted according to desire. Theinvention is not limited to the constructional form shown and specified which is only given by way of example, but may be formed in other ways without departing from its principle.

I claim:

1. An air cleaner for separating out dust and other impurities from an air current, comprising a casing partly filled with a liquid and having inlet and outlet openings for the air, a body rotatably mounted therein, said body being disk-shaped and having a continuous circular surface, the air inlet openings being arranged in one of the side walls of the casing and so shaped that the direction of the entering air forms an angle with the axis of rotation of said body, so that the flowing air meets said surface in an oblique direction and rotates the body and is itself thrown back and deflected, the impurities owing to their inertia being retained by the said surface which has been moistened by its passing through the liquid in the bottom portion of the casing.

2. An air cleaner for separating out dust and other impurities from an air current, comprising a casing partly filled with a liquid and having inlet and outlet openings for the air, a body rotatably mounted therein, said body being disk-shaped and having a continuous circular surface, said body being so disposed that the flowing air meets said surface in such directionthat it rotates the body and is itself thrown back and deflected, said surface being formed by the outer annular part of the disk-shaped body, the central part thereof having apertures allowing the cleaned air to pass from the inlet side of the casing to its outlet side, the inlet openings being disposed opposite to said annular surface.

3. An air cleaner for separating out dust and other impurities from an air current, comprising a casing partly filled with a liquid and having inlet and outlet openings for the air, a body rotatably mounted therein, said body being disk-shaped and having a continuous circular surface, said body being so disposed that the flowing air meets said surface in such direction that it rotates the body and is itself thrown back and deflected, said body comprising two circular plates, the annular peripheral parts of which are pressed out to form between them an annular space open peripherally between the outer edges of the plates, and closed inwardly, and vanes extending transversely of said annular space towards the peripheries of said plates.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. POUL EINAR EGENFELDT-OLSEN. 

